Health Science students encouraging a healthier tomorrow

"I've had quite a lot of people who usually get it done here every twelve months because they know we're here."

University of Tasmanian health science students at the Health Stop tent are doing free blood pressure checks.

Senior lecturer Kathy Ogden said it's a great opportunity for the medical and nursing students to practice their motivational interviewing and health conversational skills.

"It gives them the opportunity to learn how to initiate conversations about health-related behaviours and how to then talk to people about how they might move to the next stage in terms of behaviour change," Dr Ogden said.

Second-year nursing student Nicole Perry said that this is a great experience for both students and the public.

"This is a good double whammy," she said. "You've got nursing students who can practice their skills, and people who don't normally go get their blood pressure tested - I've had quite a lot of people who usually get it done here every twelve months because they know we're here."

"This is really good because it's helping us with our communication with patients as well," she said.

The Health Stop tent also provides plenty of activities for children of all ages, which all have subtle health messages.

Some of these activities are making hand cream, finger plaster-casts, apple swirls, and an activity to help test how high they can jump.